Falling in Love (Rockford Falls 5)

Maybe this was an opportunity for us to get closure, I thought rationally.

Or maybe my entire brain would explode from seeing him in just a towel because I turned around. I should not have turned around. I should have calmly lived the remainder of my natural life with my back to him, facing a wall in my basement and trying to regulate my breathing so I didn’t act like a horny idiot.

Instead, I turned around. I didn’t even try to take his wet clothes like I’d planned to. I just stood there and ran my eyes all over him. He had been lean and muscled at nineteen, but now he had a man’s body, thicker, stronger and dominating. I made myself come unstuck from the spot and gather his clothes. I shoved them in the dryer and started it. The reassuring hum of the dryer helped drown out the thrashing of branches against the house upstairs and the driving rain.

Drew had the yellow towel slung low around his hips, his glossy black hair still dripping. I got a hand towel off the same basket and crossed over to him, ready to offer it to him to dry off his hair. Just then, a huge boom of thunder shook the house.

“Shit!” I said, grabbing at his arm.

Before I could register what I’d done, he had me in his arms. His cool skin was under my cheek, my arms around his torso. My palms loved feeling his bare back, the subtle shift of muscle under my fingers as he adjusted his hold on me.

“I’ve got you,” he said.

My heart was pounding so hard I couldn’t even say anything for a second. I looked up at him, into those depthless dark eyes and felt like I was finally home.

“I’m not okay,” I said.

“I’ve got you,” he repeated, “It’s okay, Chel.”

“No, I mean, you said you wanted to see how I was. I’m not okay after that. After finding out that you lied about why you dumped me. All those years, I believed you got tired of me. Do you know what that felt like? After I trusted you and after everything I thought we were to each other?” I said. I hated saying it, but I needed him to know how much he had hurt me.

“Jesus, Chel,” he pulled me in tight and kissed my temple. “Bored with you? I would’ve given my right arm to be the kind of guy you deserved. But I’m me and you’re you, and I didn’t want you to feel like you were stuck here because of me.”

“You don’t get to decide how I feel about anything! I felt like I’d lost the only thing I ever counted on or believed in. And I ended up back here anyway! You didn’t set me on some path to greatness where I’d marry a damn Kennedy or something. You just pushed me away because you wanted to control me. You broke my heart, Drew! It was so long before I could even look at another guy. Do you know it was two and a half years before I slept with anyone else? And I cried. I cried because I felt like I was cheating on you. When you probably took somebody home the night of my graduation to get the boring taste of me out of your mouth!” My voice broke.

His mouth was on mine, parting my lips, grinding, his tongue in my mouth. Drew took my breath away with a passionate, punishing kiss. My breasts were pressed flat against his bare chest, my nipples hardening. His hands on my back gripped the fabric of my dress. I was kissing him back, my tongue warring with his, tears in my eyes. He nipped at my lips, softened the kiss, licked and tasted me, soothed me. His kiss grew decadent and sensuous, seducing me. When he caught my top lip between his and then licked it, I gasped.

“You were the only one that mattered. The one I compared everybody else to, and I’ve never dated anybody else more than two or three months. Because I don’t feel what I felt when I was with you, that you knew me and accepted me, that you depended on me to be there for you. I failed you, failed us both. I missed my chance with you, and all this time, I’ve regretted it. I need you to know that. I was wrong, and I’ve paid for it every damn day I woke up without you.”

My hand curved around the back of his neck and I pulled his head down to kiss me. My lips were parted before his mouth touched mine, and the fire between us flared to life.

The storm raged outside, and the sound of the dryer tumbled along, but all I heard was Drew’s heartbeat and mine. He unbuttoned my dress and pulled it off of me. I reached down to loosen his towel, but it was already gone, probably from the way I had ground my body against his when he kissed me. I shivered at the touch of his bare legs, his stomach against mine, the kiss of moisture from the head of his cock brushing against my belly. He was so big and hard for me already. I pulled away from his kiss to look at him.